Clean livestock

Heavy rainfall and a burst of fresh grass growth have led to the clean livestock policy raising its head again. The main risk is that fleece of lambs gets soiled during drafting or transport. This risk is significantly increased when lambs are transported with a wet fleece as a couple of lambs with loose dung can easily lead to a batch becoming soiled.

There is no easy solution when handling young lambs as options are more restrictive. The Teagasc guide for transporting sheep details useful advice. The option of withdrawing feed before transport will help but will not entirely eliminate risks where lambs are being drafted off fresh grass. The advice is to withdraw feed for a minimum of eight hours and maximum of 12 hours before slaughter. This needs to take into account transport time and time spent in the lairage.

Moving sheep off fresh grass for a period in advance of transporting is likely to be the best option for lambs finished off grass as housing on an alternative feed source is less feasible for many. Water should not be restricted and animals should have access to clean water prior to transport.

Loading sheep with as dry a fleece as possible will also help greatly. The Teagasc guide also highlights the importance of transporting sheep in a well-ventilated, roofed trailer. Vehicles should be clean, dry and disinfected before loading, with absorbent materials used where required to absorb urine and faeces. A major risk is animals transported on decks. The use of partitions that restrict movement and prevent mixing of batches of sheep is also advised. Avoid overcrowding and abide by an appropriate stocking density. Animals unsuitable for transport should not be loaded. For example, there will be a much higher risk of lame sheep lying down and becoming soiled or worse still, being smothered.

Calibrating equipment

Weighing is already on the agenda or on the horizon for many mid-season lamb producers. Scales may not have been used for a few months and as such it is worth checking that weights are being collected accurately. The scales should be set up in the weigh crate to ensure that there is nothing catching that would impede accurate weight collection. Where known weights are not available to test, a handy tip is using a number of lick buckets or a couple of bags of meal or a small bag of fertiliser.

The other area where regular calibration is important is with automatic dosing or injection guns. The desired volume should be administered into a measuring gauge for a number of counts and not just once to ensure the gun is working properly.

EID tagging

The main observation from the few days of mandatory electronic tagging is that a high percentage of lambs are being tagged with an electronic tag in the left ear when it should be applied in the right ear. In a small number of cases where a single tag is being selected from an EID tag set, the conventional tag has been selected in error instead of the electronic tag. Also check if the destination is operating as a central point of recording and if tag numbers need to be recorded.